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October 31, 2007
Swedish petrol giant OKQ8 has ditched plans to use palm oil in their new biodiesel Eco20. We are opposed to palm oil production, which destroys native rainforest, often by burning, to make way for massive palm plantations.
OKQ8 was the first oil company in Europe to plan to launch palm oil biodiesel.
In Indonesia, peat swamp forests are being destoryed to make way for palm oil plantations. First the trees are cleared or burned, then the swamp is drained and the peat decomposes. Huge amounts of global warming gas are emitted in the process and the forest is lost for good.
Locals and Greenpeace activists are taking a stand. They've set up a Forest Defenders Camp on the front lines, and are damming the swamp back up.
Updates on their weblog, and newsreel video of the damming. Full story: "Indonesian forest destruction dammed", on our website.
To eat Skippy or not to eat Skippy, that seems to be the question. But of course, it wasn't the question we were interested in at all. Not sure what i'm talking about? Well, it is a simple story about kangaroos, climate change and what Greenpeace said...or didn't say, as it turns out.
The state of Sao Paulo is the major industrial powerhouse of the Brazilian economy and has about one-fifth of the country's population. The city of the same name, is not only the largest city in Brazil, it's the most populous in the Southern Hemisphere.
So it was a big deal today when both the governor and the mayor (respectively) joined our call for zero Amazon deforestation within seven years.
[ Photo: Governor José Serra paints the outline of a tree trunk on the floor of our truck. ]
Today's ceremony took place on a truck that was going carry the charred remains of the tree that we took from land that had been illegally cleared and burnt and intented to tour around in Brazil. The idea is to bring the reality of the Amazon to the people using the wood.
Great to see such political heavy weights these two taking a stand for the Amazon. Sao Paulo state is the largest Brazilian consumer of Amazon timber - so the policies these guys are enforcing have a direct impact. Today the governor announced that more than 300 tons of illegal Amazon timber has already been sized.
Greenpeace campaigners are still in heated discussions this morning with the French government and representatives of other social partners at France's environmental policy making forum, le Grenelle de l’Environnement. If you can read French, keep an eye on the Greenpeace France homepage for the latest updates. If Al Gore is right, this is the beginning of an historic process.
Last night Al Gore joined Nicolas Sarkozy on stage, after the French President announced decisions made during the first two days of the forum, including notably a freeze on GM field trials and a ban on incandescent lightbulbs.
How many years does it take to change a lightbulb? If the lighting industry had their way, it would take until 2019. Sarkozy yesterday agreed to ban the most inefficient lightbulbs by 2010.
France's Environment Minister, Jean-Louis Borloo, said in an interview on Tuesday "if all of France switched lightbulbs, we could save (turn off) a nuclear power station."
There's more stuff in there about the climate and energy efficiency in particular. Indeed, at a glance much of this government's stated Révolution Ecologique (except the nuclear bits for now) looks like Greenpeace's Energy Revolution.
Protests about working conditions in France didn't stop after the original Grenelle (on labour issues) in May 1968. They spread, and inspired more protest and organizing around the world. It's that time again.
(Picture of Rembrandt's Anatomy Lesson is especially for the Dutch Government, which last week U-turned on it's promise to ban the ill-fated incandescent lightbulb.)
UPDATE: The Grenelle is over. La Vie Verte just published a good roundup in English of what happened.
The French Prime Minister's Grenelle "public consultation" on the environment isn't over yet, and we're all struggling with conflicting reports about what has been decided and how it will be implemented. We're waiting until the dust settles, the meeting actually ends, and the outcomes are announced to issue an official line on the whole package.
But yesterday I heard the following words come out of the mouth of the leader of a G8 country:
"From now on," said Nicolas Sarkozy, "every major public project, every public decision will be judged on its effect on climate, and on its carbon cost. Each public decision will be judged on how it affects bio-diversity. The onus won't be on ecological decisions to prove their merit, but on non-ecological projects to prove they can't be done any other way. Non-ecological decisions must be taken as a last resort. It's a total revolution in the way we govern our country."
And I, literally, stood up and cheered.
I don't care what part of the political spectrum those words come from.
I don't care how difficult the decisions to implement those words are going to be.
I don't care how disappointed we will inevitably be with the speed with which those words will become reality.
Those are the words we have been asking to hear from a leader for decades.
And those are the words we need to hear other leaders taking up.
It's all about the action that results, of course, and I'm under no illusion that we're going to have to push hard to see this move forward at the pace it needs to.
But tonight, I'll raise a glass to Nicolas Sarkozy. The French Energy [r]Evolution has begun.
From Business Week:
On the surface, it appears that Big Business is getting serious about climate change. Almost every major company is launching a green strategy, designed to cast it as being part of the solution on global warming. But how much are businesses actually doing to lower their emissions of carbon dioxide? And what happens when protecting the environment collides with the drive to maximize profits? BusinessWeek found that green claims range widely; most tend to be heavy on hype, light on substance.
The cover story, is a good reality check about how the greening of business is not always going to be fun or easy or even profitable. In reality, as the subject of their article points out, "This is hard work. It's messy. It's not always profitable."
They go on with some examples. One article follows the struggles of a "corporate sustainability advocate working for an Aspen resort:
Thwarted on guest rooms, Schendler switched to Little Nell's underground garage. Guests never saw it because valets park all cars. For $20,000, Schendler said he could replace energy-gobbling 175-watt incandescent light fixtures with fluorescent bulbs and save $10,000 a year. Unimpressed, Calderon again balked. If he had $20,000 extra, he would rather spend it on items guests would notice: fine Corinthian leather furniture or shiny new bathroom fixtures.
From Greenpeace UK:
On the same day that scientists have shown that carbon emissions are accumulating far more quickly than predicted, leaked documents reveal that Labour wants to work with the nuclear-obsessed French and the climate-sceptic Polish presidents to undermine a vital European deal on renewable energy. The deal - to generate 20 per cent of energy from renewables by 2020 - was only finalised by European leaders including Tony Blair earlier this year.The government actually accepts that we can meet the 20 per cent target. It also admits, in the leaked papers, that scuppering it will be "very hard to negotiate ... very controversial" and will lead to "a potentially significant cost in terms of reduced climate change leadership".
So why does Brown want to scupper renewables? According to the Guardian article covering the leaked documents: "The government is clearly worried about its ambition to introduce more nuclear power as soon as possible."
We've said all along nuclear power is a road block to the real energy revolution. Seems the UK government agrees.
A long time World Bank adviser, Robert Goodland, has published a brutal critique of the direction it's taken, focusing especially on the Amazon. From his Guardian op-ed:
The Bank Group is stimulating hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of cattle ranching in Amazonia, an activity I campaigned against strongly. These ranching investments violate applicable standards for both deforestation and slavery. ... A quarter of the Amazon forest has already been destroyed, aided and encouraged by the bank. Amazonia suffered its most devastating drought yet in 2005. The 2007 drought and fire seasons look like being even more shattering. This loss of forest is intensifying climate change, and there are reports of impending reductions in rainfall and farm yields in the rest of Brazil. While Brazil is possibly crossing the threshold into free fall, plans are being drawn for massive dam, cattle ranching and highway projects.
Whistle blowers like this are incredibly important. They give us an honest view from the inside, bring accountability and speak out when it would be much easier to stay quiet.
It's all go for our European anti Genetically Modified (GM) crops campaigns. Activists in France hung a very clear message from the iconic Arc de Triomphe in Paris today, urging the French government to make the right move and ban GM. A decision expected to take place in the next few days. Meanwhile our team in Romania had a great victory over French supermarket giant Carrefour.
A Greenpeace team removed Snack Attack bread from Carrefour’s flagship store in Bucharest yesterday, because our tests showed it contains GM Soya. Today, the supermarket removed ALL Snack Attack products from their shelves in Romania.
A full week after the release of our report on toxic chemicals in the iPhone, a chemical industry group has released a press release attacking our report. The story is doing the rounds on a few big blogs so here’s our response.
Back story: A couple days before Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, a UK judge ruled that "An Inconvenient Truth" can be shown in schools. The judged described the film as, "broadly accurate". However, the judge also decided students should get supplemental information, in particular on nine points where he felt the movie differed from scientific consensus (ie. the IPCC).
From the start, this court case has reminded me of the "intelligent design" lawsuits in the US. The whole point of the climate change denying camp is to create a false sense of debate, when (in fact) the science on global warming is painfully clear. They've done a pretty good job of this - delaying real action for years - but we can't afford to let them keep doing it.
If you want the scoop: Deltoid has a good commentary on the ruling. Andy Rowell has some interesting background on the guy behind it. And there's quite a productive hullabaloo over on the Washington Post's Factchecker blog.
Up to one-fifth of the world's CO2 emissions come from deforestation and Indonesia has the highest rates of deforestation on the planet. Over the past weeks Greenpeace has been setting up the Forest Defenders Camp, in Sumatra, Indonesia, as part of our international effort to protect the world's remaining forests and global climate prior to December's negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol.
Over the next month our volunteers at the camp will be blogging about their experiences - the first is from Hayden....
This morning we got up early and took a walk into the concession area to do a 'show and tell' to the new campaigners that just arrived. They toured the forest destruction caused by conversion of forests to palm oil plantations. We took a walk through the wasteland of the charred remnants of trees and saw the network of canals that have been dug to drain the peatland. Yifang and Frode, from our China and Nordic offices had many questions, and the tour, not surprisingly, was sobering. The image above gives you some idea of what it looks like out there.
Times mag has presented a list of environmental heroes, including Al Gore, Wanhari Mathaai, Chip Giller, Frederic Hauge, and our very own Von! I met Von some years ago in the US, and I've always been impressed by his willingness to get his hands dirty working at the community (and garbage dump) level. In 1999, the Philippines became the first country in the world to ban waste incineration nationwide, and in 2003 he won the Goldman Environmental Prize (his acceptance speech is here).
From the Time magazine feature:
The West likes to outsource to Asia: countless low-cost factories and call centers have been relocated to the world's most populous continent. But Von Hernandez, a former literature professor from the Philippines, drew the line at another lucrative export from the developed world: mountains of trash. Across Asia, waste incinerators pump out clouds of dioxin and other harmful chemicals that come from processing imported garbage. It's a highly profitable business for waste companies, but the onslaught of pollutants can wreak havoc on local health.
We train our staff properly at Greenpeace. That’s how come we found the
highly radioactive element Cesium-137, during radiation safety training in Spain. The Cesium is in marshes near the El Tinto River, 500 metres from the city of Huelva, and its 145,000 citizens.
Cesium is very dangerous, look at what happened when it
accidentally spread in a Brazilian town
From the Guardian:
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) - Hundreds of loggers and angry residents have surrounded eight Greenpeace members who tried to leave an Amazon town with a scorched tree trunk for an exhibit on global warming, the environmental group said Wednesday.The activists are holed up in the makeshift headquarters of the federal environmental agency in the town of Castelo dos Sonhos, Greenpeace campaigner Andre Muggiati said. "They are still surrounded and the situation is tense,'' he said by telephone.
The region in the Amazon state of Para is part of the so-called "arc of destruction,'' the southern edge of the rain forest that has been devastated by loggers. In 2005, American missionary Dorothy Stang was shot dead in the region during a land dispute.
On Tuesday, the Greenpeace activists tried to haul away a badly burned fallen tree trunk for an exhibit on global warming in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Muggiati said.
He said the federal environmental agency Ibama gave Greenpeace the OK to transport the tree trunk, but the permission was suspended in the wake of the standoff.
Thankfully, our team managed to get out of there in one piece. This isn't the first time we've had to deal with this kind of intimidation in Brazil, but our work there is making a real difference.
Tracy just sent in a great update for Greenpeace India's Ban the Bulb blog, which is covering the Rainbow Warrior's visit. Tracy's normally spends her days deskbound in the Greenpeace UK office, but she's taken a break from all that's familiar to join the Warrior on it's tour of India.
Excerpt from Tracy's update:
When we arrived our jeep drove right up to the stage which I immediately thought was a bit odd, but then I saw some familiar faces and Shomo one of our climate campaigners said we had to go to the stage right away. He said quickly, or there will be a riot.They had been waiting for us – thousands of students from all over the island and local people waiting to see us. We were told that we had to send the leader from the Rainbow Warrior up to the microphone to say a few things – we all looked at each other in horror. The captain was still on board to sail the ship here. So we forced Lesley, our medic from New Zealand, to the front of the stage to speak. She protested a bit but then the Minister for this area put his arm around her and coerced her to the microphone – the whole crowd cheered.
It was more like a rock concert than a political rally. Lesley thanked everyone for being there and the honour of having us. She said the Rainbow Warrior will be sailing to Bali from the next Kyoto meeting and we’ll take their message to stop climate change and save the Sundarbans with us.
When we released our iPhone testing results that revealed toxic chemicals in the iPhone, chemicals that other phone makers have removed, we expected the news to travel. Two days after the release there's been loads of coverage, especially online, varying of course from the factually accurate in wired to the predictable ranting, like this on gizmodo.
Now my parents own a Prius, so when I saw the headline Toyota is pushing for 'more modest' proposed fuel economy standards in the US, via the Guardian blog. I took action on the NRDC site. I got an autoreply from toyota_cares@toyota.com which was quite amusing, a few days later an interesting real reply arrived.
Today, over 15,000 blogs with a combined reach of over 12 million have pledged to blog something about the environment. What are they all talking about? Well, bloggers being bloggers, all kinds of stuff. Lots of tips for greening yourself up. Favorite headline I've seen so far, "Energy Vampires", and my vote for most intriguing goes to "Optimized code could help reduce global warming" (but that could just be my inner geek speaking).
There is still time to participate, just register on the Blog Action Day website and post away. Need ideas? Read what other people are posting.
Big thanks to the organisers who have made Greenpeace one of their official charities for donations. Nice one!
And stay tuned, we'll be adding more Blog Action Day posts right here all day.
Yesterday's International Herald Tribune had an excellent story about why a "peace" award went to an environmental activist like Al Gore and scientists studying the physics behind climate change:
The Nobel Peace Prize committee made a powerful statement Friday that the consequences of increasing carbon emissions are as dangerous as the ravages of war and - more directly - that "green" equals peace.The award to Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reflects a growing conviction on the part of scientists, politicians and economists that such emissions will not only change climate patterns but also lead to economic mayhem, social upheaval and conflicts between nations or groups trying to survive in an increasingly disrupted natural environment.
The world really is a messed up place sometimes. Today, six Greenpeace climate activists in India were denied bail; they are spending the weekend in jail. The ruling happened at pretty much the same time as Al Gore and the IPCC jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize for their contribution to raising global awareness of climate change. That’s something to celebrate for sure. But how can the world wake up to climate change, and at the same time and lock up those trying to do something about it...
The scientists and the politician turned activist. I suspect the Nobel Committee thought long and hard about the pairing, the order and the issue of climate change before making today's announcement. That one of the world's most trusted and reputable institutions came out and endorsed the work of the IPCC and Gore is a sign of how far we've come on global warming.
From the Times Online:
Ten years ago the idea that the world was warming up, with potentially disastrous consequences, was still hugely contested.People who installed energy-saving lightbulbs or put on another jumper instead of turning up the thermostat were dismissed as part of the tree-hugging fringe movement.
But the science of climate change has advanced enormously in the past decade and gradually the sceptics have been silenced as their objections were answered.
Today we launched the Great Whale Trail, following the migration of humpback whales from the warm tropical waters of the South Pacific, where they breed, to the icy Southern Ocean around Antarctica, where they feed. And we're doing it via satellite tracking and Google Maps. Nifty.
It's a collaboration between Greenpeace and scientists studying humpback whales in the South Pacific. We provided the financial support, while the humpbacks have been tagged by the Cook Islands Whale Research, and Opération Cétacés (New Caledonia). Why are we doing this? Well, it's simple, really: whales must not be allowed to die in the thousands for needless, discredited "research," - like that carried out by the Japanese whaling fleet. We're satellite tracking whales in the Southern Ocean to prove that non-lethal means can be used to do some real research!
Every year, more than 300,000 whales and dolphins die from just getting caught in fishing nets. The one place you might think that whales would be safe is in a whale sanctuary like the Southern Ocean. Alas, not so. Once in Antarctic waters they face the one threat that ended most easily - whaling, under the guise of "research" - whaling that is in reality a commercial operation.
Track the whales, on Google Maps »
Put this video on your own site using YouTube:
Sadly, as has already been pointed out, acting is not my strong suit. Making this spoof was both fun and grueling. I actually gained some new respect for professional actors. And as usual, the underlying issue is a serious one. So, join our 'Save the Beer!' campaign by sending an open letter to the head of Budweiser asking, "Wassup with genetically engineered rice in your beer?"
It's been a busy couple of days here in the UK. Yesterday morning, Greenpeace volunteers took over Kingsnorth coal fired power station - potentially the site for the UK's first new coal fired power station in over 30 years. (Yes, just as the world urgently needs to cut emissions, the UK government's considering building a new coal plant that would emit as much carbon dioxide as the world's 24 lowest emitting countries combined).
The energy company involved - E.ON - served an injunction, and all the Greenpeace volunteers inside the power plant have now been arrested. A few have just been released in the last couple of hours, after being held overnight.
There are loads of updates on the UK website but I thought I'd share one that comes straight from the source of the action. This is from Joss, who was chained to a coal conveyor belt inside the plant yesterday:
Greenpeace activists, made a giant Ban the Bulb message in the River Ganges, using lifebelts. The communication took place in Kolkata, one of the many coastal cities in India under threat from rising sea levels, as a result of climate change.
Simply by banning the energy wasting incandescent (traditional) lightbulb, India could save a massive 55 million tonnes of CO2, cutting their overall emissions by 4%. Email the Indian Minister of Power asking him to do just this.
Thanks to all 30,313 of you, from 155 countries who took part in recent our "Save the Dugong" capaign. Last week, the Japanese Defense Ministry in Naha, Okinawa, received 30,313 letters from you, delivered by Greenpeace Japan and the crew of the Esperanza (some of whom dressed up as dugong!).
They also took part in a sit-in by local activists which has been taking place for more than three years now, and the messaeges were also delivered to the Ministry of Environment in Tokyo.
The above video shows the sit-in and delivery - even if you don't speak Japanese, you can still understand what's going on!
The Esperanza also sailed to Henoko, the area threatened by the airbase expansion, and where the dugongs live. About 30 fishing boats and kayaks welcomed the crew. While the Esperanza was at Henoko, one construction worker told local people that "while Greenpeace is in Henoko, we will not do any construction" - proving that sometimes, just showing up can have the desire effect.
Jun Hoshikawa, the ever-eloquent executive director of Greenpeace Japan, said that "the best Samurai can win the battle without using his sword. This is what the Esperanza did here in Okinawa".
Great news from Greenpeace Netherlands, we have won a complaint against Dutch energy giant NUON. The Dutch Advertising Authority has ruled that NUON is misleading the Dutch public through their use of terms such as “clean coal” and “clean fuel” in advertising campaigns.
NUON must now stop using “clean coal” in its print and web ads.
We've posted on this blog before about the World Bank and the Congo, last April we published an extensive report on how the World Bank is contributing to Congo deforestation, and Greenpeace activists have taken direct action to try and stem the flood of timber out of the country. Now, according to the Guardian, the World Bank's own internal report also accuses the bank of razing Congo forests:
The World Bank encouraged foreign companies to destructively log the world's second largest forest, endangering the lives of thousands of Congolese Pygmies, according to a report on an internal investigation by senior bank staff and outside experts. The report by the independent inspection panel, seen by the Guardian, also accuses the bank of misleading Congo's government about the value of its forests and of breaking its own rules.Congo's rainforests are the second largest in the world after the Amazon, locking nearly 8% of the planet's carbon and having some of its richest biodiversity. Nearly 40 million people depend on the forests for medicines, shelter, timber and food.
From PR Watch
Yellowfin and Bigeye tuna are in big, big trouble. The solution is a global network of Marine Reserves: 40% of the oceans as no-take zones, so these creatures can recover.
Yesterday, our own Karen Sack made the case at the UN in a presentation which was webcast live from a meeting of the G77. The video is here. Marine bioligist Callum Roberts, author of "The Unnatural History of the Sea" does a presentation in there at about the 40 minute mark. Callum presented at our recent Oceans meeting and blew the room away: his story of an ocean once teeming with life, the devastation of industrial fishing, and how no-take marine reserves are already restoring some areas was a tour de force of hope. "The fishing industry doesn't realise that Greenpeace is its best friend" was one of my favourite lines.
We've recently set up a call upon the UN, regional fisheries bodies, and national governments to let the seas recover by setting aside 40% as fully protected, no-take zones: Sign it here! There's a Facebook cause as well: push it out there!
There's a feature story on the Greenpeace International site about this one, but I wanted to share this email I got earlier from someone at the scene of the protest:
Hi FolksYes, 11 activists are still on the crane. Banner hanging continues. No response so far from Vattenfall Europe HQ in Berlin, just a press release. We still want a dialogue about climate change and coal use with Vattenfall.
By the way, Vattenfall is running an advertising campaign in all big German newspapers asking for dialogue (to rebuilt trust and confidence in the company). Well Vattenfall, that's exactly what we do.
Additionally 20 GP activists started a painting activity at the smoke stack under construction early this morning. Police, fire brigade and security is at the spot. They watch the appearance of "stop CO2" in black 7 meters big letters.
Today is public holiday in Germany (re-unification day). Other regional NGOs, members of the Left Party, etc. have announced to come today to show solidarity. We hope they will make it through the security barriers.
Cheers for now
Gabriela in behalf of the whole teamPS: Can someone send us hot caffe latte and croissants?
[Photo credit: Bertram Boelkow/Greenpeace]
Take three countries, over three days: Russia, Sweden, and Spain. Guess what they have in common? It’s not football, nor ice hockey, but the outrageous way they handle hazardous radioactive materials.
And all three sadly ignored the fiftieth anniversary of the Mayak catastrophe and the plight of people still living there today. 50 years ago, in Mayak a large nuclear complex in Southern Urals, a tank of highly radioactive sludge lead exploded. People were evacuated from their homes in a thousand square kilometres from many towns and villages. Yet today, thousands of people still live in the highly poisoned area on the banks of Techa River.
It's rough in the Bering Sea - storms, ice, fishermen... Get a taste for a fishes life with Greenpeace USA's new game, The Deadliest Catch.
Game wise it's pretty old school. (Reminds me fondly of those Atari 2600 times.) The sea lions are pesky, but the nets are the real nightmare. Almost inescapable, just like real life. When you're done playing, don't forget to sign the petition asking the North Pacific Fisheries Council to take better care of the pollock.
Pollock don't have the charisma of dolphins, but they're vital to the Bering Sea ecosystem. Marine mammals, predatory fish and seabirds are already starving to death because pollock stocks have dropped so low. More than half of the US fish catch also comes from Alaska - meaning, a healthy pollock stock is needed for long term economic (as well as ecological) sustainability.
This morning, Greenpeace Sweden activists attempted to block a nuclear waste transport ship. The ship is in Sweden to pickup 4.8 tons of radioactive waste (including 1.2kg of "super weapons grade plutonium) for transport to the UK. (Video here.)
The 30 activists used their small rubber boats to try and block the ship, and two of the activists jumped in the water. Meanwhile, on the Greenpeace UK blog, Joss wonders, "Haven't we got enough already - why is more nuclear waste heading our way?"
Surfing YouTube with the Greenpeace Tag, it’s quite easy to discover unknown videos edited using our images. They are user generated productions from people from all over the world that care about the environment and want to spread a positive message. Ok, it should be nicer if they would make clear that are not “official” Greenpeace video (just say it in the end board and in the description), but I honestly find wonderful that so many people spend time and use their skills to do something for this planet using Greenpeace materials. It means that what we are doing works and - as this blog says - we are making waves.
Mostly of them are really great pieces of work but sometime we find something really brilliant. The best example is for sure the Rainbow Warrior animation that we discovered few months ago:
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